Originally built in Ruby City in 1863, it was moved – piece by piece on sleds – to Silver City in 1866 when Ruby City lost county seat status. The hotel was able to hold a Christmas Eve Ball that year. Water was piped-in by 1868 and hot or cold baths were available at all hours.
Silver City lost county seat status in 1834. The hotel closed in 1942 and like the rest of the town, faded into oblivion and disrepair.
… until 1972 when the hotel was refurbished, updated to include indoor plumbing, and opened for new business. It is now a tourist destination (but doesn’t truly cater to tourists). The town never burned down and many of the buildings date from the early mining days.
The hotel is now open from roughly Memorial Day to the end of October, weather permitting. There are 13 rooms with no electricity. No TVs, no hair dryers, no lights … no electrical outlets. Only a few of the rooms have heat. No smoking strictly enforced.
No in-room bathrooms. Reservations made several weeks in advance are requested; the hotel is often filled. Dinner reservations also need to be made at least a week in advance; supplies only arrive … occasionally. Good food though I hear.
All this for about $150/night (not including meals). Closed Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
Silver City, in extreme SW Idaho, is now classified as a ghost town, but the ghosts there carry guns if one tries to pick around for antiques.
Founded in 1863 when silver deposits were found nearby, the town reached its peak in the 1880s with a population of about 2500 and over 250 mines in the area; one of the major towns in the Idaho Territory. At one time, the region had 12 mills from which over $60M (1880s) of gold and silver were processed. It became the county seat in 1867 and kept that status longer than it kept active mines. One nearby silver mine re-opened in 1977 but shut down in 2000.
Traffic between here and Idaho City – another major mining town in Idaho Territory 100 miles away – crossed the Boise River at what would become Boise City; a handy supply point for the mining regions both north and south (Boise City also happened to be on the east-west trail along the Boise River to Oregon).
Silver City was among the first places in Idaho to have electricity (1890s) and telephone service (1880) … because of the mining activity.
A remote location, difficult to get to even now and at an elevation of just over 6000 ft; when the mines played out, the town was almost abandoned – having a population of 1 in the 1940s; the last resident had lived in the old hotel.
Today, there are three businesses in town including the hotel but no services. “No services” includes no gasoline, no repair shops, no rescue services; no towing operations. The nearest “city” (pop 130) is Jordan Valley, Oregon – 25 miles and more than an hour away; there is no grocery store in Jordan Valley (but a good ice cream shop).
Boise City is 50-75 miles away – depending on where in the metro area – it’s close to a 3-hour drive. The road to Silver City is OK for passenger cars but not for speed. It is virtually inaccessible in winter. Heavy rain in summer can make getting up through part of the canyon interesting as well.
